The high-end hovercar slowly made its way toward Civilian Spaceport No. 2.
Lina, a First-Class Intelligence Officer from the Guer Alliance, was pondering something she found hard to understand.
Could Gene Modification change your brain, too?
When had Hanton gotten so clever?
Lina had spent nine months undercover aboard Geglov's ship, observing all the senior crew members. Third Mate Hanton was a genuine Imperial Soldier, raised from childhood on the brainwashing-style education of the Sherman Empire.
Simply put, he was a dull-witted, straight-laced Imperial Soldier.
But now—
Hanton had actually figured out her true identity from their two prison visits!
He had even noticed that she had mixed a Nano Positioning Device into the Gene Stabilizing Potion!
Over the past few minutes, as Hanton had traded barbs with that notorious old pirate, Lina had sensed that Hanton's personality, knowledge, and manner of speaking were completely different from those of the Imperial Soldier she knew.
Geglov's Gene Modification was simply too incredible.
Unfortunately, that Research Ship had already been destroyed by Antimatter Annihilation.
That was exactly why Lina felt she had to get Hanton, no matter what it took!
Lina looked down at the little vest binding her hands, then turned toward "Hanton," who was briskly changing clothes, and gave him a charming smile, as though she weren't a captive.
"Hanton..."
"Don't worry, Doctor. You saved my life. I'm not going to actually hurt you."
Yang Ming straightened the dark blue mechanic's uniform and put on a matching baseball cap.
"Is Dr. Lina from the Guer Alliance or the United States of Freedom?"
"Why couldn't I be from the New Federation?" Lina asked with a smile.
"Because the people from the New Federation want to get rid of me," Yang Ming said with a grin. "They don't want me to speak at the Trial Court a second time. They want to make Professor Geglov's guilt stick, then denounce the Sherman Empire. To do that, they want to lure me into escaping so they can kill me."
Lina understood. "So you started the Riot?"
"My First Mate did!"
Yang Ming patted the little old man in the front seat on the shoulder.
"My loyal old friend started the Riot. It was easy for him to make a bunch of criminals forget that there wasn't any heavy weaponry in the prison."
"Oh, Hanton," Kolev advised patiently, "I'll humor you in front of your woman, but we still need to get our relationship straight. There can only be one captain on a ship!"
Yang Ming smiled. "You want to duel me?"
"Damn it, who'd want to duel a monstrous fighter like you? Oh, right—we could have an intelligence contest."
Yang Ming stopped paying attention to the old man and turned his gaze to Lina's heaving, snowy-white chest.
"I have no secrets from you, but I know nothing about you," Yang Ming said gently. "That's not very fair."
"Come back with me, Hanton. I can guarantee your safety and give you a stable, comfortable life. I'll meet any demand you make."
Lina tried to make herself sound as sincere as possible.
"Revealing your identity voluntarily is the least professional thing anyone in our line of work can do.
"Yes, my name is fake, and my identity is fake, but my desire to help you is real. Hanton, what we have isn't just having survived together. We understand each other.
"I'm the only one who understands you."
Kolev, who was driving, couldn't help adding, "Clearly, Hanton, I understand you too."
"Help me?" Yang Ming lounged comfortably in his seat. "Are you after my dashing good looks, or my legendary stamina?"
Lina's smile stiffened. "Hanton, that was rather crude... You never used to talk like that..."
"That's right," Yang Ming said with a slight twist of his lips. "Ever since the Empire decided to abandon me and leave me to spend twenty years in prison, I've realized my old life was absolutely miserable. We should all live for ourselves—and we can only live for ourselves. Don't you agree?"
Lina gently bit her lip.
She had to admit that Hanton was more charming now.
"We'll reach the port in five minutes," Kolev said with a laugh. "You two still have time for one or two intimate exchanges."
"Give it a rest, Kolev," Yang Ming snapped. "Find us a small spaceship!"
Kolev laughed heartily, switched the hovercar to autopilot, then picked up the square glass panel he'd gotten from Chief Guard Gulipa and busied himself with it.
"Hanton," Lina said, her voice growing impossibly gentle. "I'll never forget that you saved me. We encouraged and supported each other in that little boat. We shared a brief but warm time together, Hanton..."
"Doctor," Yang Ming said, frowning at her.
Lina knew what her advantage was. Without looking away, she gazed into Yang Ming's eyes, her undisguised longing showing plainly, and slowly leaned toward him.
Yang Ming didn't refuse. He lowered his head and enjoyed the kiss.
The old man in the driver's seat slid down in his chair, trying not to disturb the two young people.
Everyone was young once.
Just as Kolev was wondering whether to slow down or find somewhere to pull over, he heard a murmur from the back seat.
"Hanton, could you stay? For me..."
"Do you know how to treat a concussion yourself, Lina?"
"Huh? What?"
Bang!
Kolev's eyes widened.
Amid a crisp collision, the beauty whose hands were bound slumped over, her eyes rolling back. A bloody mark appeared on her forehead. The culprit rested his fingers against her neck, apparently checking if she was still alive.
"Oh, Hanton!" Kolev said quietly. "That was too rough!"
Yang Ming smiled calmly.
Lina and her high-end hovercar were left in a multi-story parking lot.
When Yang Ming left, he thoughtfully opened two small gaps in the car windows to allow airflow, even though he knew her accomplices would probably come looking for her soon.
Kolev swiped a finger across the glass panel in his hand. A sightseeing car meant for use inside the spaceport rolled up in front of them, and the two of them rode it straight to the hangar.
Kolev had the air of a mechanic foreman.
Yang Ming saw no hint of nervousness on the old man's face, only calm confidence.
"Don't avoid anyone's gaze, Hanton," Kolev said softly. "We've entered our fake identities into their system. There's a lot of turnover at a port like this. We're two mechanics traveling with a ship, and the Riot over there is still ongoing. They won't have finished their headcount, and nobody will suspect us."
Yang Ming gave a subtle nod.
Most of the port staff they passed smiled at them kindly, and security was lax around the hangars, where a large number of tugboats and Maintenance Boats were docked.
The civilian port barely had any proper security at all, unlike the military ports in Hanton's memories, where guards were posted every few steps.
While several port security guards chatted at the entrance, Kolev and Yang Ming picked out an expensive Integrated Maintenance Boat, broke into its system, started its hover mode, and swaggered past the guards.
One of the guards looked up. Kolev gave him a friendly smile, flicked his index and middle fingers at his temple, and winked.
"Thanks for your hard work!" the guard called out cheerfully.
Yang Ming's expression turned odd.
How many spaceships had that old man stolen in his life?
He was far too good at this!
If Kolev hadn't become a pirate, he could easily have made a fortune as a high-level programmer.
Kolev hummed a tune that wasn't quite a tune. Under Yang Ming's watchful gaze, he deftly opened one control panel after another and lit up symbols Yang Ming couldn't understand.
The ship sped steadily toward the spaceport's outbound passage.
Kor Port could be roughly divided into two parts—the main body and the outer perimeter.
The outer perimeter of Kor Port was made up of deep-space stations that handled maintenance and resupply for ships that didn't enter the port.
The main section was enclosed by a shield. Its simulated planetary atmosphere created a stable ecosystem, and the Energy Shield surrounding the main body of Kor Port couldn't simply be opened and closed at will. For the convenience of travelers, the civilian spaceport was also located inside the shield. Ships had to pass through segmented passages like airlocks to leave the simulated atmosphere.
The Integrated Maintenance Boat left the simulated gravity zone, and Yang Ming enjoyed the strange sensation of his bottom lifting slightly from his seat.
It was an experience ordinary full-immersion gaming equipment could never provide.
"Lucky for us, we don't have to wait in line this time," Kolev said with a grin. "But our ship doesn't have clearance to depart. The moment we leave the passage, it'll trigger an alarm. Fasten your seat belt."
Kolev's smile slowly faded, and his eyes narrowed to slits.
The Maintenance Boat began to accelerate.
The layers of light membrane in the passage opened and closed in turn. The control tower had noticed the unplanned ship.
Static crackled.
Electromagnetic Interference noise mingled with the controller's voice.
"Maintenance Boat B435AZ... you don't have a departure plan... Did you make a mistake?"
Kolev replied calmly, "We've just been notified that we need to give a merchant ship a checkup. Did something go wrong with the arrangements?"
"Oh, let me check... There's no message in the system... That's strange. What's going on? In any case, you need to back up first. This isn't according to regulations."
"Regulations?"
The wrinkles on Kolev's face trembled slightly. He shoved the control stick forward with both hands, and a long plume of flame burst from the Maintenance Boat's tail as it accelerated madly straight ahead.
Kolev shouted, "I am the regulations!"
"B435AZ, what are you doing? Oh my God! You don't have clearance to depart!"
"Remote control! Take remote control of it!"
"The remote-control back door's been shut! We've got a problem!"
Whoosh!
Amid the chaos crackling through the intercom, the small Maintenance Boat burst out of the passage and shot into the depths of space.
A piercing alarm rang throughout the port.
The unmanned drones patrolling the perimeter turned around as one, locked onto the Maintenance Boat, and sped toward it.
Kolev quickly set a course and accelerated the ship to full speed, then pushed the long, floating control yoke in front of Yang Ming.
"Drive like you did when you were racing the hovercar. I'll handle the drones!"
Yang Ming nodded, feeling a little nervous.
After all, there hadn't been this many buttons on the driving interface when he was playing games.
"Pushing forward makes it accelerate, right?" Yang Ming asked.
"Oh, you're serious?" Kolev stared at him in disbelief.
Yang Ming curled his lip and shoved the control stick as far forward as it would go. A violent force slammed him back into his seat.
He really was a quick learner.
Outside Kor Port, which resembled a kingdom of metal, a six-meter-long Small Boat raced at full speed, pursued by a swarm of unmanned drones with flashing warning lights.
The outer-space chase was reflected through an optical telescope.
In front of the tiny Projection screen connected to the telescope, Lina held her swollen forehead, fighting the urge to vomit as she gritted her teeth.
She was definitely concussed!
For now, she was barely staying conscious with medication. After this, she'd have to take a few months off to recover!
"Commander!" one of her subordinates reported from outside the car. "Our two frigates are about to reach the designated airspace!"
"Have them lock onto that vessel. Capture them by any means necessary!"
Lina raised her voice, but the resulting dizziness made her weak. She couldn't help muttering a vicious curse:
"Damn Hanton! When I catch him, I'm going to smash his head against a wall! A hundred times!"
Before you continue